


Help my soul

by dahyunayeon



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, F/F, Gen, Purgatory, there's no romance here sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25236322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahyunayeon/pseuds/dahyunayeon
Summary: The only thing standing between Kim Dahyun and heaven is a big pile of paperwork— and also, Chaeyoung.
Relationships: Kim Dahyun & Son Chaeyoung, Kim Dahyun/Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 10
Kudos: 55





	Help my soul

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyyyyy i've had this in my docs for months and i decided to finish it up and post it tonight. i like this one quite a bit so i hope you will like it too!!

Inside a narrow hallway, the sound of a ticking clock fills the space. Dahyun has been trying to find it, but she hasn’t seen it. There’s an occasional cough and maybe someone shifting on their seat, but other than that it’s mostly silent. There’s a long row of chairs lined up against the beige wall of the waiting room. Dahyun can’t see the start of the line, but if she looks to her left she can see she’s almost at the end of it. In front of her is a tiny, white wooden door, and above it is a sign, showing numbers in red led lights. 

Dahyun believes she’s been there for a long while, but she can’t tell. She doesn’t recall  _ how  _ she got there, and the hardest she tries to remember, the hardest it is to do so. Eventually the thought slips from her mind and she’s left staring at the closed door, zoned out. 

The room is chilly, and Dahyun is only wearing a white dress she doesn’t remember owning. All she has to cover her legs is a brown paper folder, thick as it’s filled with papers. 

The sign above the door dings and the numbers change. 

The person to Dahyun’s left gets up with a folder of their own. The door opens by itself and the person walks through it. It closes without making a sound. Everyone moves to the next seat, but after that everyone falls silent again. 

The ticks of the clock resonate in Dahyun’s head. She starts to feel drowsy, and it’s becoming hard to keep her eyes open. She feels the folder slipping from her lap, but she catches it with quick reflexes. She’s relieved that soon, the waiting will be over, although she’s not sure what she’s waiting for, exactly. An unsettling chill runs down her spine. The sign dings again, and the door opens. The number reads:

8.275.984 - desk 2304

Dahyun’s legs feel wobbly as she walks through the door. When it closes, the ticking stops, and Dahyun is met with absolute silence. She’s in a different hallway now, without any chairs, only empty walls and another door at the end. She reaches for the handle, takes a deep breath, and opens it.

The sound of shuffling papers and drowned out conversations replaces the silence. Dahyun walks into a busy office, with endless rows of desks, a high ceiling and lots of employees swirling around. There are no windows here either, and although there are some plants here and there, they look like they could use some water. Opposite to the door Dahyun came through, there are two tall doors. They’re both brown, although one has burned edges and the other has light seeping through the bottom. 

A person runs into Dahyun, making her stumble and breaking her out of her stupor. They don’t apologize, they don’t even look at her, they just keep on walking with piles of papers in their arms. 

Dahyun starts to search for her assigned desk, holding onto her folder tightly. The desks aren’t numbered in order, so it takes her a while to find it. 

Desk 2304 is close to the big doors, squeezed between a wall and a rusty archive. It’s messy, covered in binders and crumpled papers. The employee sitting behind it is a young woman; wearing khaki pants and a striped black shirt tucked into them. Her hair is short and black and she has tiny maroon horns sticking out of her hairline. Her eyes are blood red, defined with black eyeliner. She’s chewing something— Dahyun guesses a piece of gum. There’s a small nametag on the pocket of her shirt:  _ Chaeyoung. _

When Dahyun walks up to the desk, Chaeyoung glares at her, annoyed. “Took you long enough.”

Dahyun is taken aback by her deep voice and her hostile attitude. “Sorry, it’s really hard to find anything here.”

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes and types something on her computer. “Are you gonna sit down or what?” She nods to the plastic chair opposite to her and Dahyun scrambles to sit on it, embarrassed. Chaeyoung stretches out her palm without taking her eyes away from the computer, and Dahyun gives her the folder. Chaeyoung yawns and opens the binder. She skims through it and reads some information aloud.

"Kim Dahyun, date of birth may 28th 1998, date of death February 31th 2019. cause of death-" Chaeyoung frowns and glares at Dahyun, judging her, before sighing and continuing. "...choked on a tortilla chip." Chaeyoung raises her eyebrows and continues chewing disinterestedly with her mouth open.

A bell rings suddenly and everyone starts speaking louder. Some people clap in excitement and others roll their eyes. Chaeyoung is part of the latter. She opens a drawer and takes out a pair of sunglasses. Before putting them on, she addresses Dahyun. “You might want to close your eyes.”

The big door to the right opens slowly, dragging against the floor. Blinding light washes the room and Dahyun has to cover her eyes with her forearm. When the door closes with a thud, most of the employees start clapping and cheering. Chaeyoung looks like she couldn’t care less as she removes her sunglasses and tosses them back on the drawer. 

“What was that?” Dahyun rubs her eyes, blinking away the black spots covering her vision. 

“Some sucker got into heaven, big deal.” Chaeyoung keeps on chewing and shuffling through Dahyun’s folder. "Anyway, your files aren’t complete." Chaeyoung yawns and returns the binder to Dahyun.

"Huh?" Dahyun grabs the folder and starts passing the pages. "What am I missing?"

"I don't see your good conduct certificate."

Dahyun frowns and desperately looks for it in the folder "Where am I supposed to get one?"

Chaeyoung glares at Dahyun and sighs as if Dahyun's mere presence was an inconvenience. She stands up and looks in the archive, then takes out a yellow folded paper. 

"Go make a copy of this, then find your guardian angel and ask them to check your history and fill it for you. Make sure they stamp it properly, because sometimes they mess up. And return the original paper to me safely.” Chaeyoung points a threatening finger at her.

"W-where do i-"

"That's not my problem. Come back when you have them, though." Chaeyoung presses a big red button on the desk and Dahyun faintly hears the ding of the sign. "Please leave, I have other souls to assist."

Dahyun stands up feeling lightheaded. The room feels bigger now than it was before. She walks through the desks, looking for a photocopier, but all she sees is desks like Chaeyoung’s. Some of the employees have horns like Chaeyoung (some bigger than others) and some have piercing blue eyes and faint halos around their heads. 

Dahyun is on the verge of crying. She tries looking for the entrance door, but the only wall she can see is the one with the big doors, everywhere else looks infinite. She starts spinning, feeling something tight around her throat. Her eyes tear up, and a sob is about to leave her mouth when she feels odd warmth engulf her and a calming hand on her shoulder. Dahyun rubs her eyes and looks up at the person in front of her.

“Do you need help?” 

The girl is tall, with long brown hair and blue eyes. She wears gray slacks and a neat white shirt. Her halo is brighter than the rest of the employees, and Dahyun feels comforted just by being close to her. Dahyun nods and purses her lips, feeling like she could start crying from how relieved she feels. The angel guides her through the crowd towards a separate office, away from the mess and the noise. 

She sits behind a shiny, tidy desk. On top of it, a golden plate reads  _ Tzuyu, head angel _ . Dahyun sits across from her on a comfortable velvety chair. “Are you my guardian angel?”

Tzuyu chuckles and shakes her head. “No, your guardian angel must be somewhere in the office. You could say I’m the manager.” She smiles at Dahyun kindly. “But I can help you find your angel. I’m guessing you have some missing files?” Tzuyu asks knowingly and Dahyun nods. “They always do this…” 

The angel asks to see Dahyun’s folder and flips through the pages. She looks up at Dahyun when she reads the tortilla chip bit, but she resumes her reading without a word. “Ah! You’re lucky, you have a good guardian angel.”

Tzuyu grabs the phone from her desk and dials a number. It rings twice before the call gets picked up. “Hi, please come to my office... Your old human is here… yes she’s alright— well, she’s dead, but yes she’s ok… great, thanks.” Tzuyu hangs up and clasps her hands on top of the desk. “She’ll be here in a second.”

“Thank you,” Dahyun stutters, feeling overwhelmed and tired. Tzuyu stands up and moves to stand by the door, checking the watch on her wrist. Dahyun stands up as well, and notices it doesn’t have the usual numbers and hands, but swirling stars instead. Tzuyu seems to count down, and then she opens the door. 

Dahyun’s guardian angel comes rushing in and tackles Dahyun into a hug. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry.” The angel rocks Dahyun to the sides and pets her hair. “I tried to stop you from eating that chip, and then I tried the heimlich maneuver, but the chip was stuck to your throat-”

“Jeongyeon, that’s enough.” Tzuyu chuckles and makes her let go of Dahyun. “Dahyun, this is Jeongyeon, your guardian angel… Jeongyeon, you know Dahyun.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“Hey, it’s ok, no hard feelings. You did an amazing job keeping me alive for so long.” Dahyun shrugs and gently pats Jeongyeon’s shoulders. 

“Let’s not keep her waiting.” Tzuyu says, giving Jeongyeon a pointed look. 

“Right, we don’t want to keep you here for longer than necessary. Let’s go, I’ll get those papers for you.” 

Dahyun thanks Tzuyu for her help before she’s dragged out of the office by Jeongyeon. 

“So, who's the idiot that lost your file?” Jeongyeon asks once they reach the photocopier room. 

“Oh, someone named Chaeyoung...” Jeongyeon scoffs and rolls her eyes. “I didn’t know she lost my files, I thought I never got them.”

“You don’t get them, we send the files towards your assigned  _ helper  _ and they’re supposed to have everything in order to make the transition smooth, but ever since those lazy demons started working here, they’ve been losing files and making everything harder on purpose. You’re lucky Tzuyu found you, God knows how many souls I’ve seen wandering around this office. You’d think after an eternity they would find their way, but no.”

Jeongyeon keeps on ranting about the demons and paperwork and things Dahyun doesn’t understand. While Jeongyeon grabs the copies and starts writing down on them, Dahyun averts her eyes to the busy office. 

A piercing scream stands out from the noise of the office, although no one bats an eye. The big door to the left is closing, and Dahyun manages to see some flames licking the wood before it shuts. She gulps nervously and tugs the neck of her dress.

“What’s gonna happen to me now?” She asks Jeongyeon, who is finishing stamping the copies. 

“Well, you get these back to Chaeyoung, and then when she sees the paperwork is complete and that we’ve given you the green light, you’re gonna be sent to heaven.” Jeongyeon says happily, giving the copies to Dahyun with a grin. Dahyun smiles in disbelief and hugs Jeongyeon.

“Thank you so much.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go.”

“Wait, you’re not gonna walk with me to see Chaeyoung?”

“Oh, no. Sorry, but my new human is about to be born and I don’t want to miss it. Good luck though.” Jeongyeon pats Dahyun on the back and leaves. 

Dahyun scoffs, once again left alone in the strange office. This time it’s easier to navigate, though, as she uses the big doors as reference to find Chaeyoung’s desks. The demon has her feet propped up on the desk and has a cigarette hanging from her lips. 

“You’re back, and it only took you a couple hundred of years!” Chaeyoung says sarcastically, looking anything but pleased by Dahyun’s presence. “You really like taking your time with things, huh? My shift should’ve been over years ago but I had to wait for you.”

“Sorry...” Dahyun sits down again and passes the folder to Chaeyoung with a small smile. The demon takes a long drag of her cigarette before crushing the tip against some papers and throwing it over her shoulder.

“Let’s see then.” Chaeyoung starts reading the pages again. An evil grin covers her face and she chuckles loudly. She turns the folder around to show Dahyun the files Jeongyeon just signed. “You see this stamp over here?” Chaeyoung asks, pointing to the blue ink on the paper.

“Yes?”

“And do you see a stamp here?” She points to the bottom of the page, blank. 

Dread fills Dahyun’s body. “N-no.”

“That’s what I thought.” Chaeyoung closes the folder strongly and throws it on the growing pile of papers on her desk. Dahyun grabs it dejected. “I told you to make sure they did it properly.” Chaeyoung stands up and unbuttons the first few buttons of her shirt. She looks at Dahyun with a smirk. “And also, you didn’t return my original paper.” 

Dahyun is stunned, sitting with her shoulders slumped. “So what do I do now?”

“Well, you’re gonna need to book another appointment.” Chaeyoung motions for Dahyun to follow her. She walks fast, not caring if Dahyun catches up or not. She leads her through more desks, away from the big doors, and after what feels like miles, they reach a tiny white door. There’s a red ticket dispenser next to it, and Chaeyoung snatches one for Dahyun. “Unfortunately, you’re stuck with me. But so are a thousand other people, so you’re gonna have to wait.”

Chaeyoung opens the door and pushes Dahyun out. She’s back in the beige hallway, at the start of the row of chairs. She can’t see the end from where she stands. Dahyun turns to look at Chaeyoung, desperate. Her eyes are begging for help, but Chaeyoung shrugs. 

“Sucks, dude. I’ll see you in a couple of years, though.” She winks and closes the door on Dahyun’s face. The ruckus from the office is gone, and instead, Dahyun hears a clock ticking.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you liked it, please leave a comment, it would mean a lot. my twt is dahyunayeon


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